New computational experts join steering committee: NYSGrid, a consortium of institutions collaborating to create a blueprint for New York’s 21^st century cyberinfrastructure, and NYSERNet, provider of statewide networking and communications, have approved a Memorandum of Understanding that creates a framework to better support the research and education communities in New York State. NYSGrid becomes an initiative of NYSERNet, which will provide a legal and administrative home to the grassroots collaboration. NYSGrid was formed in 2006 to develop grid computing capabilities across New York State and to foster intellectual collaboration among the State’s institutions. “This MOU marks the next stage in NYSGrid’s evolution,” said Christine Haile, chair of the NYSGrid Steering Committee and CIO of the University at Albany. “Originally we were completely volunteer-driven, but now we have an administrative structure and have hired a part-time program manager who will focus on coordinating initiatives, pursuing membership activities, developing projects, and raising NYSGrid’s visibility.” Haile said that Linda Callahan, former executive director of the Cornell Theory Center, will serve as NYSGrid program manager. To assist in moving NYSGrid forward technologically, two well-known computational experts have joined the Steering Committee, which oversees the consortium’s direction. Tom Furlani, director of the Center for Computational Research at the University at Buffalo, and David Lifka, director of the Cornell Center for Advanced Computing, are the newest members of the eight-member oversight group. Several members of the committee also serve on NYSERNet’s Board of Directors, further cementing the close ties between the two organizations. In addition to Haile, Furlani, and Lifka, members of NYSGrid’s Steering Committee include James Davenport, Brookhaven National Lab; Gurcharan Khanna, Rochester Institute of Technology; Tim Lance, NYSERNet; Mark Shephard, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Heather Stewart, New York University. “New York’s universities are world leaders in applying computing and information technologies to science and engineering research, “said new Steering Committee member Tom Furlani. “NYSGrid provides the means for increasing collaboration and communication among these institutions.” Nineteen colleges and universities are currently members; many of these have dedicated computational resources to the grid computing infrastructure and are testing applications. NYSGrid runs the Open Science Grid (OSG) software stack “The computing and data management requirements of science and engineering are growing at a rapid pace,” noted David Lifka. “By combining computing and storage resources across New York’s research communities, we can provide many sites with access to more resources than they could afford individually.” “The NYSERNet family has a two-decade-long history of working collaboratively,” added Tim Lance, president and board chair of NYSERNet. “This is exactly the cooperative spirit evident in NYSGrid activities during this past year. By combining efforts we can offer the community a unified means to find and access the rich computing and networking resources in the State.” For further information on NYSGrid, please visit the NYSGrid website at its Web site.